Wettest on record (From Your Local Guardian)

Wettest on record

8:25am Thursday 26th July 2007 in News By Daniel Knowles

So much for summer sunshine - the Met Office says we have just suffered through the wettest May, June and July since records began more than 200 years ago.

Provisional figures from the Met Office show that 387.6mm, or 15 and a quarter inches, of rain have already fallen across England and Wales, making it the wettest May to July since records began in 1766, even before July ends.

The Met said the figures will come as no surprise to many across England and Wales who have suffered flooding from the exceptionally heavy rainfall experienced in June and July.

Among the most extreme rainfall in June was 103.1mm in Fylingdales, North Yorkshire, followed by a similar event in July when Pershore College in Worcestershire recorded 120.8mm of rain on July 20.

Both downpours resulted in extensive flooding across parts of England and Wales Recent Met Office research with Environment Canada has shown, for the first time, a link between human activity and global rainfall patterns.

Peter Stott, climate scientist at the Met Office Hadley Centre said: "This latest study can not make the link between climate change and what we have experienced so far this summer, however, with a warmer climate there could be an increase in extreme rainfall events despite the expected general trend toward drier summers."